How to Prepare for Burning Man: 12 Tips Not in the Survival Guide

First some background for those of you who don’t know what Burning Man is. Burning Man is an experiment in temporary community. 70,000 Burners (as we’re called) celebrate in the Black Rock City desert of Nevada for the one week preceding Labor Day every year. It’s the most amazing music and art ‘festival’ in the world.

Here are some of my pictures from the 2007 event which was my favorite year: double rainbows, unbelievable art, some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.

Advice on how to prepare for Burning Man after the photos.

Here’s How to Prepare for Burning Man:

You must read the survival guide. Even veterans like me who have been burning for a decade read that thing every year. Super useful. I’m not going to regurgitate what’s in it. Just know that you need to be prepared! Lots of water, all the food that you need, first aid kit, medicine, sunscreen, hydrocortisone for a heat rash, whatever! If for any reason you have a propensity to get pink-eye or diarrhea, make sure you are prepared. You don’t want to be out in the desert, totally screwed because you forgot some random drug store item. It doesn’t matter that there are medical tents, they will not have what you need. I used to think, oh of course they’ll have rash cream. No they will not. BE PREPARED! Pack for the most intense heat in the day (i.e., wide-brimmed hat) and the most intense cold at night (i.e., down coat). Have your car maintenanced before your trek and bring spare keys.

Now, I’m going to tell you what’s not in the guide:

1. If you are tenting, then I would make sure you do a trial run with your tent prior to arriving on playa. If your tent has any holes (air ventilation), then keep in mind that when you return to your tent after a dust storm that a half-inch of dust will be covering all of your belongings. In other words, you need an expensive all-weather tent. If you do not have the funds for an all-weather tent, I suggest you hot-gun pieces of cloth over the air ventilation to prevent dust from seeping in.

2. Goggles. You need goggles to protect your eyes in a dust storm. Most goggles have ventilation holes in them. Make sure you tape over them, otherwise your goggles will be useless.

3. Plan each day out in terms of food and costumes. Food should be as low maintenance as possible, like nuts and crackers. I remember someone had brought pickled eggs which I thought was genius. I was known for bringing trays and trays of Nutter Butters. Don’t judge! I also remember a duo from Europe ‘cooking’ Indian food for our potluck. They had packs of ready-to-eat tikka masala that they heated up on the hood of an RV. We were all cracking up, but it was so good. For clothes, I assembled outfits and packed them into ziplock bag, so I could just grab a ziplock and get ready.

4. Shopping: A) Sports Basement for your tent and other travel essentials, B) the thrift stores in the Haight or the Mission for costumes, C) Bed Bath & Beyond for toiletries, and D) Costco for your food and water.

5. At all times on playa, you should carry a backpack (a tiny one). In it, you need to have a bottle that you can refill with water or booze, sunscreen, chapstick, hand sanitizer, camera, a notebook, and a pen or pencil. You will constantly be running into people who will say, “We’re having a party on Wednesday night, you should come.” And you need to be able to write the events down otherwise you’ll forget. I also recommend wearing a cheap watch.

6. Always carry a roll of toilet paper. When you are out partying into the wee hours and the porta-potties have run out of TP, you will thank me! Hide the TP. Don’t come walking out of a porta-potty with a roll of TP in your hand, otherwise everyone will run up to you and beg for some.

7. You must have a bike. Your bike must be locked. If your bike is not locked, it will be stolen. Do not get a bike lock that is challenging because you will need to lock and unlock your bike constantly while biking around the beautiful city. I buy a super easy lock with a key like this. I attach the key to a bracelet on my wrist so I have easy access to it at all times. It’s good to have a spare too, just in case. One year, my lock broke on the last day (thankfully). Not sure what I would have done if I didn’t have a lock for the duration of the event.

8. Don’t be a dark wad. That’s what we call people who have no lighting in the middle of the night. Do you want to get run over by an art car? Get some neon el-wire and make sure you’re visible!

9. Bring your party favors. Watch out for undercover enforcement.

10. Here’s an easy gift to share with others. Get a stack of postcards, put postage stamps on them, and hand them out to people so that they can send mail to their loved ones back home. Yes, there is a post office on playa. Here’s some really good swag I’ve gotten through the years.

11. Get a radio and listen to Burning Man Independent Radio (BMIR). Listen to it now, listen to it on the playa. Best radio station on the planet.

12. The most important thing to remember is that shit happens, something will go wrong, the lines to get in will be long, the lines to get out will be grueling, but just chill and enjoy the experience. It will be worth it.

I cannot WAIT to hear all about this after you go! When I was in Mountain View this summer, I ran into an adorable couple on a pair of pink fuzzy bikes. I was all, “Dude…where did you get THOSE?” And they were all, “Dude. They’re really big at Burning Man.” That was the first I’d ever heard of this event. Ever since, I’ve been intrigued. Enjoy!

That is so hilarious. You mention ‘pink fuzzy bikes’ and I know exactly what you’re talking about. They are all over Burning Man. After 10+ years, I’m kind of on sabbatical so not going this year, but maybe I should write a post and regale everyone with my stories.

Up until two years ago I’ve lived on the East Coast so I never even thought about Burning Man. That is, until I moved to California! My neighbor is absolutely obsessed with Burning Man and she has shared soo many fascinating stories. I had no idea… I hope to go some day!

Latrina, it is quite the experience and my wish is for everyone to experience it as least once in their lifetime. It should be on everyone’s bucket list. Honestly, I’ve so jealous of all my friends who are there right now. It just wasn’t in the cards for me this year. It’s a ton of preparation!

Holy balls, I want to go so bad. SO BAD! It’s one of those things that I always said I would do when I was a puppy and it slowly faded into oblivion as I whitewashed myself into life in the suburbs. You’ve reawakened my lust to go. Except the camping part. That part sound absolutely fracking atrocious. Is it tacky to stay 4-star and cob in every day? (Probs eh?)

Jo, I know there are at least a handful of camps that are “4-Star.” One camp raises funds by selling luxe camping, advertising actual hotel rooms at their camp with hot showers, meals brought to your room, etc. No joke! A lot of people also RV so that’s one way to kind of live it up without tenting. Gah! I’ve gone all different ways and it would be hard to go from having an RV to suddenly setting up my own tent again.

I’ve always wanted to go, but, frankly, always wondered if there were more “issues” that no one talked about. It’s great that you have given this advice to help people be prepared. If I do ever go (not with a toddler), I will be sure to use it.

Oh yes, there are plenty of issues. The line to get in and out is a major buzz kill, with an average wait of several (i.e., 4-5) hours depending when you’re coming into and out of the city. Since it’s a city that never sleeps, you can also expect noise all night long, like some tweaker who wants to play his saxophone non-stop throughout the night. I personally don’t do well with the sun, so I’m always coming home with a bad rash which can’t be prevented or quelled until several days after I’ve left the desert. Plenty to celebrate, but it definitely has its share of problems.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to my site, derived from an advice column I wrote while getting my MBA. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I give helpful, opinionated advice based on my own experience and from the expertise of my extensive network. For more, click here.